[[quoteright:250:[[Franchise/{{Batman}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lockup_2944.jpg]]]][[caption-width-right:250:"I hereby sentence you to life without the possibility of parole..."]]

->'''Batman:''' I've seen how you treat your prisoners. Forgotten and scared, without hope or compassion.->'''Lock-Up:''' And you actually care for those creatures? You're just as crazy as they are!-->-- ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', "Lock-Up"

A vigilante, usually a KnightTemplar or WellIntentionedExtremist, who, rather than killing his chosen targets, imprisons them.

The canonical alignment for this villain is LawfulEvil.

For jailers who actually abuse prisoners, see WardensAreEvil.

----!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime & Manga ]]

* In ''LightNovel/{{Kanokon}}'', Yatsuka-sensei and the other nonhuman monsters' job is to make sure the nonhuman students stay put and don't break TheMasquerade until they've figured out how to fit in with humans.* ''{{Manga/Oldboy}}'' features a prison for people who need to get rid of someone but don't have the skills or the will to kill. The main character, in Chapter 1, is dumped back into the real world after fifteen years in this prison.* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' has Quilge Opie, a Vandenreich's Quincy general. Although he is extremely powerful, capable of tanking many attacks and doing extreme damage, his greatest ability lies in imprisioning his enemies in a nearly indestructible jail made from reishi, which was capable of holding [[TheHero Ichigo Kurosaki]] for a really long time. He is not called "Quilge of the Jail" for nothing.

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[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* Locksmith in the MarvelUniverse who used to imprison super-humans, feeling their feats overshadowed the achievements of ordinary humans. Most of his victims were {{Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain}}s who ComicBook/SpiderWoman (Jessica Drew) had fought during the run of her own comic, but eventually he managed to capture Tigra and Spider-Woman herself. While the design of his prison to prevent his captives from using their powers to escape was considerable, the heroine managed to outsmart him. (First she had Tigra insult Poltergeist to start a fight, which shorted out the power that maintained the cells. Then she convinced Gypsy Moth, to use her powers of cloth to switch their costumes. The Locksmith was fooled, and put Spider-Woman and Gypsy Moth in the wrong cells after the power was restored, and the one designed for Gypsy Moth couldn't hold Spider-Woman. Once everyone was free, the Locksmith stood no chance.* The Hangman, another MarvelUniverse vigilante, would murder male evildoers but imprison female ones to 'protect them from corruption'. Unfortunately, he had a nasty habit of forgetting about them, leaving them without food or water...* In the ''ComicBook/Marvel2099'' universe, [[Comicbook/ThePunisher2099 the Punisher]] (2099 version) had his own private prison. Of course, in his {{Cyberpunk}} {{Dystopia}} CrapsackWorld, anyone who could shell out the fine could get away with ''any'' crime, including murder. This made him - relatively speaking - as much an extremist in his world as the original Punisher (who just shoots everybody) was in his. Possibly more so; his prison came with a torture chamber. By the way, he reserved his prison for offenders whose crimes he felt didn't quite deserve the lethal approach - this was actually his idea of mercy! He also had his own version of the electric chair in case he ever changed his mind.** As the legal system has turned into a for-profit business, prisons aren't around anymore due to the expenses involved, and convicts instead get a shot that removes a certain number of years from their life; this means the Punisher's private prison is also the only one in town. New arrivals have rarely even heard of locking criminals up before.* Rayek in ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'', who never wanted to kill Winnowill (partly because he loves her, but mostly because if she dies her evil soul will be free to wreak havoc), and in the end becomes her living jailer, [[spoiler: keeping her spirit within his own body as he tries to teach her to love.]]* Faora Hu-Ul was a Phantom Zone villain introduced in ''[[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Action Comics]]'' #471. She was a beautiful Kryptonian woman whose unexplained hatred for men led her to torture and kill 23 men at a secret concentration camp in her home.* Lyle Bolton, alias Lock-Up, from ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''. As this guy is a CanonImmigrant from the animated series, details about him are better provided in the Western Animation section.* The Master Jailer from ''{{Superman}}'' comics (Deathtrap in ComicBook/PostCrisis continuity) is a sort of example, except he's an out and out villain who just likes the power trips provided by his powers. And of course he's an unusual example because he actually has powers to facilitate his fascination with incarceration. Also of note is the fact that he was the architect who designed the supermax prison in Metropolis, Stryker's Island.** His daughter [[LegacyCharacter carries on the family business]] under the names Snare and Locksmith.* Mr Smyth from ''ComicBook/SecretSix'', a slave trader who was building what he hoped would be the world's biggest and only prison.* Grimbor the Chainsman from ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}''.* The Batman of the future in ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion'' runs the Solar System's hypermax prison facility, deep within Pluto.* The eponymous Chain Gang from the short-lived Creator/DCComics title ''ChainGangWar''.

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[[folder: Fan Fic ]]

* Reapermon serves this role to the Royal Knights in ''FanFic/ADragonInShiningArmour'', being the overseer of Havelock Prison.* Superman acts as one to Floyd Lawton after the latter killed Clark's mother in ''FanFic/TheMetropolitanMan''.

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[[folder: Film ]]

* The Warden who puts Young in the hole in ''Film/MurderInTheFirst'' is an unusual example, since he serves this purpose within a jail.* The Blind Man in ''Film/DontBreathe'' [[spoiler:is keeping the woman who killed his daughter prisoner in his basement. After she is killed, he plans the same fate for Rocky.]]

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[[folder: Literature ]]

* A borderline case occurs in the ''Literature/YoungBond'' novel ''Literature/HurricaneGold'' by Charlie Higson. The main villain El Hurrican runs an island hideaway for criminals on the run. Once on the island, they can never leave. While their money lasts, they live a life of luxury, but once their money runs out, he puts them to work as a slave labour force. El Hurrican does confide to a youthful Literature/JamesBond that he regards himself as the jailer of these criminals.* In ''Literature/SoonIWillBeInvincible'', major supervillain Baron Ether lives out his twilight years under house arrest in his mansion, with his nemesis The Mechanist as his jailer.** Although he's not doing a great job. While Baron Ether never tries to break out, people keep breaking ''in'' to see him.

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[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/InspectorGeorgeGently'': In "Goodbye China", Gently uncovers a pair of police officers running an off-the-books detention centre for young offenders where they attempt to beat some respect for the law into them.

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[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Torog]], Evil God of the Underdark. Patron of Jailors and Torturers.* The ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'' FreedomCity villain Warden is one of these. He worked on making prisons as [[CardboardPrison non-cardboardy]] as possible, and got a bit fed up with people making that task harder by telling him that the prisoners have rights; didn't they forfeit those when they ended up in prison? His current goal is to overthrow "soft and corrupt" law and replace it with something altogether more draconian.

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[[folder: Toys ]]

* Hydraxon from ''Toy/{{Bionicle}}''. To be fair, it is his job description, and he's hunting escapees in a place where he can expect to ''find'' only escapees, but he's still a little too quick to assume that everyone he meets is an escaped criminal. Botar, in charge of prisoner apprehension and transport, also liked his job a bit too much, trouble is he doesn't bother to look after his prisoners, or know that they might have escaped.

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[[folder: Video Games ]]

* The Ur-quan Kzer-za in ''VideoGame/StarControlII''. Either you joined them, or you got slave-shielded and trapped on your home world.* Warden Kuril from ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', who you have to deal with during Jack's recruitment mission. Turns out he likes to make a tidy profit in selling select prisoners as slaves, which Shepard and his/her crew do ''not'' take kindly to.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Lock-Up from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' (and CanonImmigrant to the Franchise/{{Batman}} comics). In the animated series, Lyle Bolton was once the new Head of Security at Arkham Asylum, but whose methods were so harsh and extreme that everyone at the asylum was afraid of him, particularly Scarecrow. After being relieved of his post, he would go on to "arrest" those who he deemed to be at the root of Gotham's problems, including the mayor, Commissioner Gordon, reporter Summer Gleeson and the chief doctor of Arkham (the very same people who exposed his abuse of power and had him fired, making this a case of revenge) before being stopped by Batman and Robin.** Rumour from ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' is similar.* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' has Walker, the obsessive sheriff type.* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' turns Goliath into this when he uses Odin's Eye to become a PhysicalGod. The best way to [[LiteralGenie "protect his friends"]] is to seal them in a cave for the rest of time. Nothing can get to them there.* Mr Moss from ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks''.* The Warden of ''WesternAnimation/{{Superjail}}'' It's not like he's trying to uphold the law or anything. It's mostly because he loves incarcerating people '''that freaking much.'''* Hama from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' was a waterbender who was imprisoned by the Fire Nation during the Southern Water Tribe raids, but escaped through the use of Bloodbending, a creepy variant of Waterbending she developed while she was incarcerated. Upon her escape, she fled to a Fire Nation town and vented her hatred of the Fire Nation by imprisoning people herself in a mountain.* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' when Megabyte imprisons Hexadecimal when he's not exploiting her power. When the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin firewall]] goes up imprisoning Megabyte, Hexadecimal remarks "now it is the jailer who has been jailed."* Kampe, the jailer of Tartarus in ''WesternAnimation/ClassOfTheTitans''. Cronus was the only prisoner to have ever escaped under her watch. She hopes to correct this, even if it means sacrificing others to do so.* Myglom, the warden of the Spider Guild prison in the ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Razer's Edge".* ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'': As a culmination of his angst, in "Yellowjacket", Hank Pym abandons his interest in rehabilitating criminals and as Yellowjacket, starts appearing to kill them, but actually transports them to a miniature prison he created by himself. However, he abandons this project by the end of the episode.* Demongo from the ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' episode "Jack versus Demongo the Soul Collector" is a unique example; not only is he a jailer (his victims being enemies of Aku) but ''his body is the jail'', and he can command the imprisoned souls to fight for him. (Until, that is, Jack busts them out.)* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko''; when XANA has a reason to take an enemy alive, he uses a Guardian, a monster Aelita describes as a "digital jail". Exactly how it captures a victim isn't known, as both times, it happened offscreen (although Aelita's reaction suggests it isn't pleasant) and once that happens, the prisoner is kept in an unconscious state inside the Guardian, which seems almost indestructible from outside force. However, it seems even dumber than XANA's other mooks, and can be fooled easily if presented with a clone or illusion of the intended target. * ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'' had a villain named Leech who kidnapped and held captive other "Banged" super-humans, the reason being his Bang-induced powers was the ability to assimilate those of others - temporarily. (Kind of like Superman's foe Parasite, but it only worked on Bang Babies). Victims included the criminals Ebon, Talon, and Hotstreak, but he seriously messed up when he tried to go after Static himself, grabbing rapper and SpecialGuest Lil' Romeo instead, who had been wearing a Static costume.* Castle Captive, who appeared on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'', was another villain who was both the Jailer and the jail. [[GeniusLoci A living, intelligent castle]], it appeared in the human world once every hundred years, its appearance luring travelers to it, only to trap them inside and after 24 hours, carry them to whatever realm it called home, for... [[ForTheEvulz well, some reason known only to himself]] but he did seem to be [[{{Sadist}} a cruel creature who liked seeing victims suffer.]] Escaping it was almost impossible, because it could control every part of itself, doors, furniture, even items as small as silverware, and use them against anyone who caused trouble. One prisoner was Nanny Smurf, who was rescued after the Castle appeared a century after being kidnapped.* Gigi, a VainSorceress and HornyDevil from ''WesternAnimation/TheLifeAndTimesOfJuniperLee''; in order to stay young, she had to [[VampiricDraining drain the energy from other magical beings]], so she kidnapped them and turned them into animals before imprisoning them in the Orchid Bay Zoo. (June herself became a victim while trying to rescue them; [[BadassDamsel a mistake on Gigi's part]], as is often the case with this Trope.)* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness'': General Tsin in "The Most Dangerous Po", who is capturing the most dangerous villains in China and imprisoning them as his personal collection. Also an example of HuntingTheMostDangerousGame and TheCollector.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* Der Fallensteller ("The Trapper") is a German superhero from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''. He is a GadgeteerGenius who specializes in traps and bonds.* The role of the sheriff in ''Roleplay/ComicFuryWerewolf''.